environmental issues and sustainability
TRANSCRIPT
ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS,
THEIR CAUSES, AND
SUSTAINABILITYThe Walker School
Environmental Science
Mr. Thomas Cooper
A First Look (Earth Rising – Apollo 11)
General Earth Statistics
Average distance from Sun: 149.6 million km
Revolution Period: 365.26 days
Rotation Period: 23 hours 56 minutes, 4 seconds
Rotational Speed 1,057 mi/hr
Axis Inclination: 23°27„
Equatorial Diameter: 12.756 km
Average Temperature: 22 °C
A Crowded World
World Population Growth – 2.5%
WHAT ARE
ENVIRONMENTAL
INDICATORS?
Some Environmental Indicators
Depleted Soils
Shortages of Food
Loss of Biodiversity
Increased Deforestation
Polluted Rivers
Increased Disease
Biodiversity Hotspotshttp://www.biodiversityhotspots.org/Pages/default.aspx
WHAT IS ENVIRONMENTAL
SCIENCE?
One vs. Many Disciplines
Ecology is a biological science that studies the relationships between organisms
Environmental Science is an interdisciplinary science that uses information form the physical science and social science to learn how the earth works
Key Issues
Services
ResourcesPopulation
Sustainability
Some Disciplines
Biology
Chemistry
Anthropology
Geophysics
Politics
Economics
Technology
THE EARTH IS A DYNAMIC
SYSTEM
Change is the Norm
Geologic Hazards
Renewable Soil
Nonrenewable Minerals
Energy Resources
Earth‟s Principal Systems
Atmosphere
Hydrosphere
Biosphere
Lithosphere
Magnetosphere
Cryosphere
WHAT IS THE STRUCTURE
OF THE EARTH?
Geoid –
Not Quite Round, Not Quite Elliptical
Areas of the Earth
The circumference of the Earthat the equator is 24,902 mi / 40,076 km.
The total area of Earth is 510,300,000 Km²
The total area of the oceans are 360,700,000 Km²
The total area of land is 149,600,000 Km²
Earth‟s Structure
EURASIAN PLATE
CHINA
SUBPLATE PHILIPPINEPLATE
INDIAN-AUSTRLIAN PLATE
PACIFICPLATE
JUAN DEFUCA PLATE
COCOSPLATE
CARIBBEANPLATE
NORTHAMERICAN
PLATE
SOUTHAMERICAN
PLATE
EURASIANPLATE
ANATOLIANPLATE
ARABIANPLATE
AFRICANPLATE
SOMALIANSUBPLATE
Carlsberg
Ridge
Southwest IndianOcean Ridge
ANTARCTIC PLATE
Transformfault
East PacificRise
Transformfault
Mid-IndianOceanRidge
Southeast IndianOcean Ridge
Mid-AtlanticOceanRidge
ReykjanesRidge
Transformfault
Divergent ( ) andtransform fault ( )boundaries
Convergentplate boundaries
Plate motionat convergentplate boundaries
Plate motionat divergentplate boundaries
Earth‟s Major Plates
WHAT KEEPS US ALIVE?
WHAT IS A RESOURCE?
Solar Energy
Wind Energy
Tide Energy
Fossil Fuel Energy
Nuclear Energy
WHAT ARE NONRENEWABLE
RESOURCES?
Oil and Natural Gas Resources
Metallic Mineral Resources
Evaporative Salts and Clays
WHERE DO POLLUTANTS
COME FROM AND WHAT
ARE THEIR HARMFUL
EFFECTS?
Definition
Pollution is the presence of a substance at high
enough concentrations to threaten the health,
survival, or activities of humans or other organisms
Types
Point Sources
Non-Point Sources
Petroleum Refining and Transportation
Hog Farm Sludge
Iron Ore Mining
Paper Mills
Construction Runoff
Wood Production
Light Pollution
Coastal Beach Erosion
Cattle Ranching
Agricultural Fertilizers and Pesticides
Source Groundwater Contamination
HOW DO WE DEGRADE
OUR ENVIRONMENT?
Movie – The Lorax
Have students watch the movie and respond to the question: “What is the relationship between resource consumption and environmental problems?”
WHAT ARE ENVIRONMENTAL
INDICATORS?
Human Population Growth
Poverty
Malnutrition
Deforestation
Aquatic Pollution From Solid Waste
Infectious Disease Threats
Species Extinction
WHAT IS THE RELATIONSHIP
BETWEEN POVERTY AND
ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS?
Poverty‟s Relationship
Loss of Land
Misuse of Resources
Climate Change
Natural Disasters
Increased suffering from malnutrition, infectious disease, and respiratory diseases
Women and Education
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN ECONOMIC
GROWTH AND ECONOMIC
DEVELOPMENT?
Economic Growth –Increasing ability to provide goods and services
Economic Development
A change in a countries standard of living is
measured by its Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
ACCORDING TO THE UNDP,
WHAT COUNTRY HAS THE
HIGHEST LIVING
STANDARDS?
Highest Living Standards
Oslo, Norway – UNDP 2005
Bad News
Life expectancy 11 years less in developing countries than in developed countries
Infant mortality rate in developing countries over 8 times higher
Harmful environmental effects of agriculture may limit future food production
Air and water pollution levels in most developing countries too high
Half of world‟s people trying to live on less than $3 US per day
WHAT IS BEING DONE TO
AID DEVELOPING
COUNTRIES?
Economic Development
Reduction of Urban
Poor
Development of Micro
Enterprises
Marketing Information
Good News
Global life expectancy doubled since 1950
Infant mortality cut in half since 1955
Food production ahead of population growth since
1988
Air and water pollution down in most developed
countries since 1970
Number of people living in poverty dropped 6%
since 1990
IS OUR CURRENT LIFESTYLE
SUSTAINABLE?
The Challenges We Face
Read about the challenges we face regarding food,
water, health and population growth.
Time Magazine August 18, 2002
Link:
http://www.time.com/time/2002/greencentury/en
opener.html
Ecological Footprint
Ecological Footprint
Amount of biologically productive land and water
needed to supply each person or population with
the renewable resources they use and to absorb or
dispose of the wastes from such resource use
WHAT CAN WE DO
ABOUT POLLUTION?
Prevention Pays
Clean Earth
Clean Up
Prevention
Problems With Pollution Clean-Up
It is only temporary.
Removing a pollutant from one area can cause it to
be added to another.
Pollutant are easily dispersed in the environment.
WHAT KIND OF
ENVIRONMENTAL
OUTLOOK SHOULD WE
HAVE?
ENVIRONMENTAL
HOTSPOTS PORTFOLIO
Activity: Environmental Hotspots
Have students investigate various environmental
hotspots in their state. Students are to choose one
environmental problem and develop a 2-3 minute
news broadcast on the issue.
Earth Portal (website)http://www.earthportal.org/
Environmental News Service
NPR: Environment (Podcasts)http://www.npr.org/rss/podcast/podcast_detail.php?siteId=4985907
PRI: Living on Earth (RSS Feed)http://www.loe.org/
http://www.loe.org/podcast.rss
